Richard smiled happily while sitting on a plane "We haven't left yet or anything but I'm more than excited to leave this horrible place quite honestly. But let's get into things. Last time on the Radickulous Race, we were stuck doing some challenges in the pristine city of Dubai. Where teams had to clean up parts of a large skyscraper, or take on a crazy turret wanting to know you to kingdom come"
It shows Bea and Sophie cleaning the windows without much problem, before then showing Ninja annihilating the turret with her quick moves.
"And while for some that challenge was easy, for others it was a terrible time" it cuts to Hannah screaming at Joshua.
"But, it was worst of all for the Psychics, who were taken out by the Last Resorts. Or at the very least Tamera," the scene shows Tamera knocking the shooting turret down on the Psychics as she started running to the finish line.
"I can't say I miss them too much. They did too well if you ask me. But now we're in a new phase of the race! We've lost all of our losers and more teams are starting to take this game seriously. Let's see where the drama takes us today on… the Radickulous Race!"
Intro plays
Ben and Desmond walked forward in the mall since they got first place in the last challenge. Desmond smiled at his partner before taking a step backward "You can go ahead Ben, I love getting to hear you explain the challenges with your voice"
Ben looked at him slightly "You won the last challenge, you could go ahead if you want" he murmured.
Desmond smiled "oh but I don't sound nearly as good as you. Plus you inspire me to keep doing the best I can"
Ben opened his mouth to respond before the host's annoyed voice spoke over them "Oh just touch the top! We get it, you're both heads over heels for each other"
Ben faintly blushed as he just tapped the top of the dickbox to get their tip "You can read it" he murmured while looking down.
Desmond frowned at him before looking off-screen to look disapprovingly at Richard, before reading the tip "Oh, we're going to Finland" he smiled "that might be fun" he looked at his partner.
Ben just gave a small shrug "sounds fine"
"Yes, they're going to Finland" Richard announced while showing a screen where it was only snowing. "Literally nothing here of note" he admitted. "But for their first tip, they'll have to go to the Apena Pila spas. Which is about the only warm place around here" it shows a small dickbox that only had a towel on around his waist.
From there the first 7 of the contestants ran to the first flight, getting in and taking flight as the other team has to wait. This being the Disasters, the Friendship, Turtle School, Wilderness Girls, Clowns, Opposites, Bandmates, and the Famers.
In the front, Bea was just sitting back to relax. Just trying to sleep through the flight until she heard her granddaughter getting up. She opened her eyes, seeing Sophie was still dressed like a karate kid.
"Where are you going?" Bea asked softly.
"Oh, I'm just going to go join Ninja. She wanted to talk about more of my future training and that sounds totally fun!"
The grannie slowly nodded "well… ok. Just be careful. I don't want the two of you going too hard at training or anything on this plane"
"We'll be safe, thanks grandma" she pecked her grandma on the cheek before scampering off to go sit by an excited-looking Ninja.
However, the moment the small child left her side Shiro was happy to take the spot and wiggle his eyebrows at her.
Confessional: Ninja
"I really can't say how much fun it has Sophie around with me!" She smiled under her scarf "I mean, usually people don't want to talk about martial arts or anything but she really seems just as excited by this stuff as I am. I would love nothing more than to potentially have her call me… sensei" she sighed softly.
XXX
Further back Piccolo was sleeping on the ground, not minding the flight attendant walking on him as he just napped.
"Is he ok like that?" Makenna whispered to Monstro, who was simply sitting in front of the bandmates.
"Oh, he's fine. He says his life is constant pain so something like this isn't that bad"
"Very dark" Cord mused slightly "he sounds like he'd be an uncle of Lilith's or something" she joked.
Monstro just looked confused as Makenna snapped her finger "Oh yea, you wouldn't know her but she's a bandmate back home. If you spend all your time around the clown there you'll just love her"
Monstro smiled "if she's your friend I'm sure she's fun!"
"Keep it down" Piccolo grumbled from the floor as a stewardess stepped on his face "I'm trying to sleep"
Eventually, that group of teams made it to the cold wasteland of Finland and made their way to the spa houses. With the second flight attendant getting in quickly.
"Alright, taking an early lead!" Kylie smiled confidently. "we've turned this team around since you grew a backbone!"
Laurie smiled softly "I-I'm glad you think this is going so well"
"It is. But it would go even better if you manage to knock Hannah's block off" Kylie smirked as she tapped the top of the dickbox and took the tip.
"Why Hannah?" Laurie asked innocently.
"Honestly, just because I want to make her my own project. She might not be so unbearable when she's too exhausted to stand" she smirked, getting a small giggle from Laurie.
Kylie looked down at the tip before smiling "Oh man this actually sounds good for an exercise on your mental fortitude!"
Laurie almost immediately started getting nervous "y-you liking a challenge is… v-very telling"
"Oh, it's just a sauna put to the highest heat. Don't be a baby about it" Kylie smirked.
"I-It's at least fully clothed, right?"
Kylie looked at her "for your sake, luckily, yes" she nods.
Richard was kicking back in a sauna with a large bear and a towel around his waist. "For this all in, two teams have to squeeze themselves into different saunas and last a full ten minutes" he pointed up to a timer that was currently at the 10-minute point "This timer won't count down until both teams have made it in"
Kylie continued reading the tip "Once you've lasted long enough you can get your tip by crossing a semi-frozen river… oh this challenge is made for us!" The hardass cheered before grabbing Laurie by the arm and dragging her towards a sauna.
Meanwhile, on the second plane, most of those on the losing were simply keeping to their own teams. However, for some teams like the Simps and the Toxic couple this was exceptionally awkward.
Hannah was sitting on her phone, looking over Chirper before looking over at a peaceful Joshua and glaring harder.
"Hey, Joshua" Hannah poked his forehead repeatedly.
He slowly pulled his AirPods out of his ears while looking at her "Yes Hannah?"
"Did you hear about that one celebrity on Chirper who was found out for doing black face ten years ago?" She showed her phone to him, though he didn't check it out.
"Uh, c-cool. Is that all?" Joshua looked at her.
"You don't care!?" Hannah glared at him "Do you not know how offensive that is you pig!?"
Joshua frowned at her "I just don't care about your constant crusades anymore. We're not dating anymore. What you do is not my problem"
"I'm so grateful that I broke up with you! I really made the right move!"
Joshua just nods before putting his AirPods back in and looking down at his phone. Hannah glared at him. Never moving her eyes from Joshua as the silent treatment only pissed her off further.
Near them, the Polar Opposites were sitting across from the Last Resorts. Tamera had given a headset and set up a raunchy movie to distract her while Tamera glanced at the two different friends. Anne was just happily snacking on some flight meal while Hope was simply staring at her in a way that was obvious to anyone but Anne. She was also slouching like usual.
Tamera smirked before putting on an innocent smile and leaning closer to them "Hey, Anne right?"
The comedian looked surprised at Tamera suddenly talking to her as she smiled back at her and put her food down "Oh, hey there! You're Bonnie right?"
The vixen fought the urge to roll her eyes "I'm Tamera. But that's not so important. You two are always working together so well, I just have to ask. What's your relationship?"
Hope shot up almost immediately at that question. While Anne just faintly blushed with a small smile. "Uh, well, we've been friends ever since we met back in High School." she giggled softly "I was utterly Hope-less with making jokes so she was the only one who laughed. I never Anne-ticipated getting as close as we are but we're totally best friends!"
Tamera forced her smile further "This is our first long conversation and I just want to scalp her" Tamera couldn't stop from mentally groaning at every joke that came out of that dumb clown's mouth. Tamera glanced towards Hope to see she looked down slightly at that.
She smirked "My apologies, I honestly thought you two were a couple or something. You know, with how people love the troupe of opposites attracting"
Anne blushed a little as she scratched her cheek "Oh, uh, I um… haven't thought too much about something like that" her giggling was a lot more nervous.
"Oh, well I was just curious" she smiled innocently before slowly leaning back.
"That was a little weird" the comedian murmured while leaning back to get back to her little snack before turning to Hope "Think she's trying to get advice on how to ask her partner out?" She joked.
Hope was simply looking down, not showing her eyes to Anne as she slowly nodded "Y-Yea… probably"
Anne frowned softly, and was about to say something before Hope just glanced at her "How about we just sit quietly on the way to our next challenge?"
Anne whimpered slightly before nodding and quieting herself while leaning back. Hope looked past her to see Tamera still watching their conversation with a smirk.
"You're doing perfectly" Tamera mouthed mockingly. Hope just clutched her head miserably.
The sad loser hated saying something rude to Anne like that, but she was coming to terms with knowing that Anne wasn't into her. And at this point, she was fine doing whatever was promised to work for her.
Confessional: Hope
Hope sighed miserably as she sat down in the bathroom "I know now that what Tamera said is probably best… but her side of the deal is just asking for so much… I joined this competition to not think about my boss and I'm a terrible liar, if I say anything else she'll see right through me." Her eyes widened while looking towards the confessional camera "N-Not my current boss, I mean m-m-my last one o-of course. M-My current boss would…. Never do anything wrong" she forced a small smile before quickly frowning again.
XXX
Back in the challenge. Kylie and Laurie were quick to make it to the saunas, going into the first open one and sitting down on the side of the room closest to the door.
"S-so we have to wait for someone else?" Laurie whispered bashfully.
Kylie nods "so they better not take long!"
Eventually, the Turtle School duo came running into the sauna. Causing the door to close behind them and the heat to kick in as the timer started going down.
The clock continued to go down slowly for all those in the saunas. Kylie and Laurie were panting and sweating with how hot it had gotten for them by then. They look at Ninja and Shiro, who didn't look to be sweating at all. At most Ninja just removed her scarf, revealing the scar on her lip to them.
"H-how are you t-two not sweating?" Laurie whispered while trying to not look too much at the scar.
"We're built to last" Shiro smiled "Ninja and I have trained to survive in any climate or weather for days on end"
Ninja smiled proudly and nodded with him. This almost immediately piqued Kylie's interest as she sat up and wiped the sweat out of her hair "How do you do something like that?"
Shiro smiled and sat back "get comfortable. I could talk to you about our training regime all day"
Nearby, the Simps and the Toxic Couple were sitting together. However, both teams were extremely awkward. "So, uh, Joshua" Rodney smiled. "What was it like having a girlfriend?"
Adam elbowed Rodney in the side "Dude, you can't just ask a guy that after he got broken up with"
Joshua chuckled softly "I-It's fine. H-Honestly having a girlfriend is-"
"Don't act like you owned me!" Hannah glared at him as she interrupted him "And you aren't allowed to talk about what our relationship was like!"
Joshua meekly tapped his knees before looking at the two guys in the other room. He quietly scooted closer to them "trust me, everyone talks about dating but it's not as nice as people make it out to be"
Adam and Rodney frowned slightly. "It couldn't have been all bad right?" Adam asked cautiously to make sure Hannah didn't get pissed at them.
Joshua just looked at them "Well… I guess it wasn't so terrible… I just know I should move on. That's always the hardest part of being with someone… When they break your heart"
Confessional: Adam
"I need to talk with Maria." Adam rubbed the back of his head "I've been too focused on Rodney and his problems since we got here. Before we finish this race I'm going to talk to Maria about it. I don't care if she might break my heart. The idea of being together with my queen sounds more than worth it" he smiled softly "And if she turns me down I'll take the clue and leave her be. But I can at least hope it doesn't go there"
XXX
"While some teams are just enjoying the heat, others are taking the time to get along with their partners" Richard announced over the Polar Opposites sitting with the Psychic and Skeptic.
All of them were lying against the back of their seats. Looking totally exhausted.
Anne chuckled weakly "This is as hot as… uh, something hot" she groaned weakly "no, wait" she smiled "I have something" she looked towards Hope and pointed at her "Is it hot in here or is it just you?" She joked with a small smirk.
Hope didn't laugh, however, just getting redder than she was prior. "G-Good one…" she murmured before trying to sneak her arm around Anne without her noticing.
Anne slouched back down again, not saying anything about the hand or the fact she didn't laugh.
Arnold sitting across from them was just lying down as his glasses fogged up with his head resting on Aisling's lap. Which just made Hope frown more than usual as she moved her arm away from Anne and back onto her lap as she looked down.
In another one of the saunas, the Last Resorts were sitting by themselves with the Bandmates sitting across from them. Tamera and Makenna both looked annoyed at each other as they waited for the time to come to an end. Tamera looked down slightly to look at her locket "what's with the little trinket?"
Makenna glared at her "that's none of your business"
Tamera just smirked at her "Oh come on, we're stuck in here we might as well have some small talk shouldn't we?" She leaned back in her seat to show off some of her chest, assuming the camera would be on them by now.
"Look, Tamera, I know you're mischievous and not trustworthy at all. I'm not going to tell you anything. The less you know about me the better I'll feel"
The vixen just shrugged "Fair enough"
Tamera turned to look at Bonnie to see she was basically coated in sweat. She also looked seriously delirious at this point. Though of course that delirious look was directed towards Tamera's chest.
"My coconuts" a small tune started playing in Bonnie's head as everything around her became much brighter as the tune started getting louder. "You can put them in your mouth" Bonnie groaned weakly as she started moving closer to her "right now right now, right now right now"
Tamera closed her eyes to avoid getting any sweat in her eyes. "My coconuts. Watch them bounce up and down" her chest slowly moved up and down from breathing. With how hot and sweaty they were Tanera's shirt was hugging her figure.
"They ask me what's my size, just give um a squeeze!"
The camera suddenly swapped outside a few sets of saunas. A buzzer went off to let everyone know that their time in the sauna was over. At the same time, Tamera's scream could be heard as she ran out of her sauna while Bonnie chased behind her.
"Get away from me you sicko!"
"The song told me to do it!" Bonnie quickly countered as she ran after her with her tongue flopped out the side like an excited dog.
Cord slowly walked out behind them, just snickering quietly to herself in amusement. Though Makenna just looked a little confused about what happened.
Confessional: Tamera
She looked angrier than she ever had been before as a blush covered her face "I. Am going. To. Kill. Her" she was seething in anger as she balled her hands into fists.
XXX
Bonnie and Tamera were the first two contestants to make it to the semi-frozen water. Tamera could see Bonnie still chasing after her. She looked between Bonnie and the water, before taking the lesser of the two evils and jumping onto some floating pieces of ice that could support her.
Bonnie just kept going before she ended up falling into the frozen water and almost immediately turning into a cube of ice. "Proves you right!" Tamera taunted smugly.
Back at the saunas, Ben and Desmond slowly walked out while sweating profusely. "That was terrible" he ground before pulling off his shirt to try to get some cool air.
Desmond silently grinned, but at the same time didn't want him to feel awkward so he quickly pulled his shirt and scarf off. While trying to not look at his sorta-not-really friend.
"Gayyyyyy" Piccolo called while running out of the sauna with his clown paint slowly melting off his face.
Monstro ran out after him while giving both of them a small thumbs up. Though Desmond was still embarrassed enough to start putting his shirt back on.
As the Circus Duo continued running to the water, the Turtle School opened their sauna door, accidentally slamming it into both of them.
"Oh, sorry there" Shiro apologized as he moved the door slightly to look at them. Monstro and Piccolo slowly raised themselves up, with the camera focusing on their backs as Shiro and Ninja got a face full of what the clown looks like without his makeup.
Ninja pulled her scarf back up to her face to keep from throwing up as the two of them started backing away from the clowns.
Confessional: Ninja
"How is that clown so powerful!?" The young ninja was back to sounding excited again "He can control bats and has the ability to freeze people in their tracks by a single look!?" She slammed her fists together "I can't keep waiting for him to come to me to teach me! I have to try forcing him into a spar if it's the last thing I do"
XXX
Confessional: Piccolo
Piccolo was sitting in the confessional with his makeup back on. He was currently holding a bat while slowly moving it around in his hands "I'm getting tired of everyone reacting that way when people see my face" he stated plainly.
XXX
Soon enough La Familia, the Famers, and the Simps came running to see the two Resorts slowly floating down the river.
"How are we going to get across?" Deion frowned.
Joe smirked slightly "I think I have an idea." he pushed his partner into the water "you can just swim!"
"W-w-w-what about you then?" Deion looked up at him while shaking from the cold.
Joe just smirked as he glanced towards Margaret who was looking skeptically at the water "I'll come up with something"
Behind them, Maria was quietly just hoping that Margaret wasn't going to use her like a raft. Adam smiled before walking up to him "It's nice getting to compete next to you again Maria. If the water's too cold I'd be more than happy to carry you over!"
Maria looked at him and smiled a little "I don't know if Margaret would be fine with me leaving her behind"
"Oh, I'm sure my bud Rodney would be more than happy to carry her over right?" Adam smiled before looking at Rodney, who slowly nodded.
"See? It's just fine. And maybe we could even talk about going out after this season or something like that" he smiled softly.
Maria blushed hard at his sudden and forward suggestion. She fidgeted slightly, trying to think of a way she could even respond to that before the two of them heard a loud splash behind them. They both could see that Joe had shoved Margaret into the water before swimming away "See ya, Margaret!" Joe taunted with chattering teeth before swimming away with Deion.
Maria sighed slightly "I should go help Margaret. We can talk… some other time" she simply bowed slightly before running to her partner.
Adam sighed slightly before turning around to Rodney "Guess we've both been striking out recently" he murmured sadly.
Maria ran up to the side of the water and helped pull Margaret up. "Glad to see you're being useful" Margaret glared back at Maria "I don't know what that guy's problem is but I'm going to crush him"
Maria just sighed slightly in annoyance. 'It's like watching after an angry child' she mentally complained.
Further ahead, the first team had actually made it to the dick box. And that team was surprisingly the Wilderness Girls who didn't even look remotely wet.
"We're making good progress" Bea smiled at her granddaughter.
Shiro nodded as she moved her hands to make random symbols she just didn't know what they could mean "My ninja stealth came quite in handy"
Bea chuckled softly as she pulled a compass from her pocket "Or it was us finding a way around the lake" she joked before pocketing her compass and going to the almost nude dickbox.
Bea tapped the top of the box and pulled out the tip. "For the contestant who pulled this tip, I hope you like rock and roll… oh great" Bea sighed.
Richard smirked with his hands in his pockets as he walked onto a stage with mountains of amps and other sound amplifiers stacked on top of each other. Richard pulled his hands out and moved his arms like he was rocking out on a guitar.
"For the contestant that grabbed the tip, they are now up in today's botch or watch! And this order will be the one we follow all season long! But, for this challenge, the one who's now up today has to rock out on air guitar and get the crowd cheering them on!"
Above him, there was a meter on enjoyment. It was at green "If you get a green you can race to the chill zone and race for another day!"
Bea gulped slightly as they made their way to the stage "I can do this… I can do it" she quietly told herself again and again.
Sophie smiled confidently at her "I'm sure you'll rock this whole country's socks off!" She cheered.
The gilf smiled softly at Sophie before going onto the stage. The crowd of freaks in makeup looked up at her expectantly.
Bea awkwardly brought her hands up before moving her hands like she was rocking out on a guitar. However, she was rather clunky with her movements and didn't even move her body at all, which quickly got her booed.
Bea frowned sadly as her meter went all the way to red as someone threw a tomato at her. She dejectedly lowered her head before making her way back behind the curtain "Well, at least I can go again soon right?" She smiled, before seeing half the teams had already made their way to the final point.
"Ah darn" she sighed.
The contestants that had made their way to the challenge now had the chance to try performing, with the Psychic and Skeptic just not being there yet for one reason or another.
Ninja was the first one to step up and try her hand at the air guitar. However, having all the eyes set on her almost immediately made her clumsier than usual as she tried to bounce around with one leg while playing. However, as she jumped around she accidentally tripped on one of the cords. She groaned weakly as she fell face-first onto the ground.
For the Toxic Couple, Joshua was up and was quietly looking down at what was his air guitar before slowly fidgeting with it "I really don't know what I'm supposed to do here" he admitted before a hook pulled him off the stage.
After Josh was Adam who was rocking like it was mostly second nature. At least compared to most of the competitors' attempts. He leaned back while rocking harder, getting louder and louder cheers before he looked behind the curtains. He tried to not look directly at Maria, but it was more than obvious to Margaret. Who couldn't help but smirk.
The mafia leader elbowed her partner in the shoulder "Your boy crush is looking this way. I think now's a good time to cut them loose"
Maria looked somewhat surprised at her request "w-why would we cut them out now?"
She shrugged "This plan of yours is going on way too long at this point. Plus, I'm almost positive you'll screw up this challenge. Better safe than sorry"
"Yea, but maybe we could-"
"No" Margaret immediately countered "I want to see you sabotage Adam now or else I'll know for sure he's distracting your game. And we won't want to solve a little problem of your focus now will we?"
Maria glared slightly at her before turning back to Adam. He was still in the middle of the performance and was getting closer and closer to green. He turned his head to smile at Maria, however, his smile wasn't recuperated as Maria just rolled her eyes at him.
Adam slowed down seeing her look unimpressed as his rocking almost immediately slowed down.
"Come on dude keep rockin!" Rodney cheered towards him. However, Adam didn't seem to even care about him as his meter went to red. He sighed softly before trudging off stage as boos followed him out.
"That's more like it" Margaret smirked.
Confessional: Rodney
Rodney was standing in the backstage area. He looked awkward as Adam lay down on the ground face up to the ceiling.
"I really don't know what is going on with Adam and Maria" Rodney murmured, though he looked a bit upset "But she's missing out on a great guy like Adam if she chose to ignore him twice now." he tapped his chin "A good way to make a girl interested is by being in a relationship right? That's what my dad used to say at least. Maybe I could set him up with someone…"
Rodney sat down "Let's see… uh, Bonnie and Tamera don't seem like his type… most of the other girls are under age and Margaret seems meaner than Maria…" he snapped his fingers as a big smile formed on his face "I should set Adam up with my ex Bea! They'd be perfect together! I mean, they're both the nicest people I've met in a while. Oh, Rodney you big ol' genius!"
XXX
"Looks like the competitors are having some trouble making it out there as rockstars" Richard announced as Joe failed to rock hard enough before slipping a disk and collapsing on the ground.
"Hopefully at least some of them can start making some progress or we're going to be here awhile"
As he announced this, Makenna and Cord walked past the rest of them. The rocker Makenna smirked confidently "excuse us, everyone. I think it's our time to show you all… how to rock!" Makenna cheered before running on stage.
She smiled at the crowd before pulling out her air guitar, slamming her hand down for one loud rip of her cord "Who out there is ready to rock!?"
The crowd cheered excitedly.
"I can't hear you!" She called out again.
They all cheer even louder as Cord smirked. "Alright!" She leaned back and started shredding her guitar, continuing to get everyone cheering her on until she eventually landed herself in the green.
"Oh, yea!" Cord cheered before running out to Makenna and giving her a fistbump.
Makenna raised her fists into the air while smiling at the crowd "thank you Finland!" She called before running off stage with Cord.
At the chill zone, Richard was smiling at them "Can't say I was expecting anything different from you two" he mused "You're first, so you two can enjoy yourselves"
Confessional: Bandmates
Makenna and Cord both looked pretty confident "that challenge basically felt like it was made for us" Makenna mused "I mean. That crowd was less rowdy than the ones I'm used to working with"
Cord smiled and shrugged "hopefully the others get their act together. I kinda wanted to try joining the mosh pit"
"Oh, that'd be fun!" Makenna almost immediately nodded "and when this is over they might even invite us to some local rockers!"
"I might retire here" Cord quietly joked.
XXX
"Resorts, you're up" a roadie with a clipboard announced.
"I swear if you screw this up I'm going to murder you" Tamera threatened.
Bonnie just smiled and winked at her "I'll win no problem, don't you worry about that" and with that, she skipped out from behind the curtains.
Tamera crossed her arms angrily, already expecting Bonnie to fowl out as she started aggressively rocking out. The crowd seemed to just find her performance passable, liking it more or less. But that was when Bonnie ran up to the front of the stage and ripped the front of her sweater to show off her purple bra to the masses.
They all almost immediately started cheering louder as she made it into the green. Bonnie smirked as she started walking off the stage with her shirt still ripped down the middle.
"Last Resorts, once again you made a solid turn around from being in distant last place. Your teamwork is truly incredible" Richard teased.
Tamera just glared at the host "shut up. For once I want to be far away from the cameras…" she deadpanned.
Bonnie chuckled nervously as she slowly followed behind Tamera "W-Would you believe me if I said it was all the heat exhaustion?"
"Not remotely"
After Bonnie, even more, teams managed to get their rock on and started performing like actual rock stars. Joe came on stage before rocking out harder than before, and when he was right on the cusp of getting a green score he slammed his guitar down on the ground. While he wasn't actually breaking anything that really impressed the crowd.
After him came Ninja, who was rocking excitedly on her guitar, though there wasn't too much razzle-dazzle to start off. Either way however she was slowly impressing the crowd. Ninja smirked as she lowered her scarf, showing off her scar on her lip before pulling out a lighter. The crowd watched curiously as she lit the lighter and brought it up to her mouth. She took in a deep breath, pulling in some of the flame before taking a deep breath out and pushing out a strong puff of flame that burned off the hair of those in the front row.
"Famers, you're third. Turtle School, you're fourth" Richard announced as they both ran off the stage.
He smiled to himself before he started getting closer to the stage to count all of the contestants. And he could see everyone had already made it over besides Aisling and Arnold "Huh. I guess the Psychic and Skeptic are going to finally kick the bucket this time around"
Speaking of the Psychic and Skeptic, both of them were still slowly making their way to the next part of the challenge. They were slowly swimming through the icy water. Or at least, Aisling was swimming through the cold water. Arnold was mostly being dragged behind her still.
"Ugh… are we supposed to go this way? Everyone was going this way…" Aisling frowned while glancing around worriedly.
"Why don't you use fate to decide?" Arnold deadpanned while floating on his back. While he was cold he didn't look interested enough to actually shiver.
Aisling stopped swimming to look at him "Are you sure you wouldn't want to prove my prediction wrong and show off how great you are?"
Arnold shrugged "Your prediction would be more useful than what I could do…"
Aisling frowned before stopping her swim towards the side of the river. Sitting down next to a tree while letting Arnold lie on the ground. The rich kid simply raised an eyebrow at her as Aisling rested her forehead against her knees.
"Why did we stop?" Arnold frowned slightly.
"What's even the point of getting to the chill zone?" Aisling murmured in annoyance "looking to the future, all I see is us losing because you refuse to do anything…" she sighed "I guess I should have expected this. Ever since you got into this mood I haven't been able to heal your mood, even with crystals"
Arnold frowned as he dropped his head into the snow "I don't know why you think dumb crystals would help someone's mood"
"It was more of an effort than what you were putting in" Aisling murmured "Just a second ago you were talking about how you wanted to just rely on fate"
"Well. I thought your prediction would be about how you carried us to the end"
"I can't carry us the whole time. In this challenge just can't do that." she shrugged "It's going to be a hard one"
Arnold raised himself onto his knees "Oh, yea? What's the challenge?"
Aisling simply shrugged "does that matter now?"
Arnold frowned "Don't be like that just tell me! I want to hear what your prediction is!"
She just glanced away from him like she was ignoring him. Which only upset the rich boy further. "I swear Aisling, your stupid mumbo jumbo is really getting tiring already!"
Aisling just smiled at him "I hope it is not as annoying as your attitude, or else I would feel bad about how I come off"
Arnold silently stood up while glaring at her "Get on my back."
"Your back?" The psychic raised an eyebrow at him.
Arnold nodded with a smug smirk "I'm going to carry you to the next leg of the competition and then I'm going to carry us to the chill zone like I should have been doing for the last few challenges"
Aisling smiled while chuckling softly "Alright if you say so" Arnold got down on his knees as Aisling jumped onto his back. Before she could even hold on tight Arnold was diving back into the water and swimming towards their destination.
Confessional: Aisling
Aisling had a small smile on her face "I knew fate would be very promising for us, I just also know how Arnold is with being competitive. I was trying to be compassionate, but Arnold only reacts to challenges to his ability." she chuckled with a small blush "I love him like no other, but he can be shockingly simple…"
XXX
Back at the concert stadium, some were still taking the lessons from those before them. Joshua was on stage, sitting up on his knees while rocking out on his air guitar. "Toxic Couple, you're 5th" Richard announced.
After him came Piccolo, who stood on the stage without any makeup. He didn't even move his hands to fake a guitar. However, the crowd gasped almost immediately seeing his face. "What are you all staring at!?" Piccolo glared angrily. The crowd looked amongst themselves before suddenly breaking out into loud cheering.
"And the Circus duo has found themselves in sixth place!" Richard then announced. "Meaning our range for the next leg of the race is only getting smaller and smaller for our losers hiding behind the curtain.
Behind the curtain, almost all of the teams left behind were really just trying to avoid going back onto the stage at this point. Laurie was constantly shaking her boots while glancing towards the crowd, Bea was practicing how to move her hands like she was rocking out even if she looked embarrassed to be doing these even outside of the limelight, Hope was already entirely confident she just would get booed right off, and Adam was lying down on the ground still.
The only exceptions were Maria and Desmond, desmond was already excitedly running onto the stage while Maria was too distracted by Adam's current state.
On the stage, they could hear people cheering as Ben slowly tapped his foot to an invisible tune. "You're getting up" Margaret frowned "Don't screw this up, got it?"
Maria frowned "You don't have to expect me to lose every challenge I'm in charge of"
Margaret just smirked "I just like reminding you what'll happen if you fail to do what you need" On the other side of the curtain she can hear something walking around slowly.
Maria flinched slightly at the sound as they heard an announcement off stage "Ben, Desmond. You both are seventh!"
Margaret quietly looked towards Maria with a raised eyebrow.
"Fine, fine… I'm going" she murmured before walking onto the stage. She stood in the middle of the stage, looking around to see some familiar men staring up at her expectantly. In this crowd of disturbed Finns, they only stood out further.
Maria gulped nervously as she moved her hands down to her air guitar, moving them quickly to start rocking out. She glanced up to her rock-o-meter to see she was only sitting in the middle of the meter.
In the crowd, the men crossed their arms skeptically. Maria gulped, realizing she had to come up with something quick. She looked to the side of the stage to see the tower of amps. She smiled in realization as she ran over and grabbed the side of the tower before pushing them over to make an avalanche.
The crowd cheered excitedly as she made it all the way to the green. Making her sighed in relief as she dropped to her knees.
"And it looks like La Familia has made it to eighth place!" Richard announced proudly. Though she simply ignored this as she glanced around. She didn't see any of Margaret's men still standing around anymore, which was far more relieving.
"Guess you live to compete another day" Margaret mused while walking past Maria.
"I… hate her more than anything in my life" the redhead growled angrily.
Back at the entrance to the stage, Arnold came running in with Aisling just happily following behind him. Arnold ran up to the dickbox and tapped the top of it as he snatched the tip in one swift move.
He skimmed over the tip and smirked "Oh good. I get to go up in this one." He stretched his back "I hope the crowd's ready to be disappointed once I'm done here"
Aisling just chuckled softly "Glad you're really back in action now… But I would recommend going a bit softer on the confidence to the others"
Arnold just smirked as he walked forward and behind the curtains to see the remaining contestants with Laurie currently on stage and failing miserably thanks to all the eyes in the audience focusing on her.
"Well, at least the Lovers haven't made it here yet" Kylie murmured in annoyance while tapping her foot expectantly.
"Oh, sorry to disappoint you then" Arnold smirked as he walked in and stood next to her to watch Laurie fail.
The shy martial artist frowned as the meter went to red and she was pushed off stage. "Looks like this is my chance then" he smirked while stretching himself and cracking his knuckles.
"I hope he fails" Kylie deadpanned before quietly eyeing Laurie "And you're lucky the rest of these guys are even more pathetic than you are"
Laurie frowned slightly while glancing at the other remaining three contestants still trying to get it together.
Arnold smirked as he walked onto the stage, though surprisingly he found an actual guitar that was seemingly just lying around on the ground. The crowd looked on in awe at his confident posture as he raised his hands in the air. He then suddenly brought his hands down to send out a wave of sound before he started rapidly moving his fingers rapidly to create a strong aggressive tune.
It didn't even take the crowd more than a few seconds before loudly cheering him into the green. "Too easy" he mused before tossing the guitar away like it was some random piece of trash he found.
"Lovers are 9th! Leaving us with our last four contestants" Richard announced over the crowd. Arnold just smirked as he started walking, only for Aisling to come running and jump at his back and pull him into a hug.
"When did you know how to play a guitar?" She smiled at him. "And where did you get it anyway?"
Arnold just shrugged with a smirk "I'm good at anything I pick up, and the second part doesn't matter"
She just rolled her eyes playfully "Glad to have you back"
As the two of them walked off, the final four teams started getting more nervous.
"Who's next?" The roadie announced threateningly.
"We are!" Rodney quickly announced while flinging Adam back up to his feet.
"Well, if you say so" they smirked while throwing their thumb over their shoulder.
"Rodney, I don't know how much I want to embarrass myself again" Adam frowned at his big friend "I think this season was a bit of a mistake for both of us, all we've done is strike out"
Rodney roughly pat his friend on the back "If Maria isn't impressed by you shredding then no one is going to be!"
"I know what you were trying to say with that" he lightly chuckled with a weak smile "but it wasn't the greatest way that could be put. But I'll still win us another day in the race" he raised his fists "It has been fun even if things didn't work out"
Adam went onto the stage, rocking out for himself instead of focusing on Maria. And thanks to his focus, he managed to finally get through the final part of this leg of the race "Simps are tenth!" Dick announced.
Bea shook her arms as she slowly walked forward "Ok, I can do this one I can do this one…" she whispered while walking onto the stage.
She gulped nervously as she stepped onto the stage, before following the same starting rocking out all of the others had. However, at this point, many in the crowd were getting tired of getting the same thing again and again. Bea could see she was losing the crowd as she moved one of the amps onto the ground before stomping her foot onto the top of it as she leaned back to continue rocking out. The crowd was getting a little bit more into it as Bea leaned back while shredding her fake guitar.
However, while she was leaning back her back suddenly made a loud crack. The crowd stared at her as she leaned very far back. However, she didn't stop rocking her fake guitar as she leaned back, immediately getting some cheers from the crowd again as she made it into the green. "And our second to last spot of 11th goes to the Wilderness Girls!"
"I didn't know you could rock out like that grandma!" Sophie ran out with a small smile on her face.
"Well, your grandma knows how to kick it with the young people" she smiled weakly while still bending backward "But would you be a dear and maybe… call a hospital?"
"Looks like we're up" Anne smiled before looking at Hope "Do you think you can do it this time?"
Hope shrugged slightly "I'm terrible at everything. I wouldn't be shocked if I just totally screwed it all up for both of us…"
Anne simply smiled at her before giving her a hug, patting her softly on the back of her head "Even if you do mess up I know you did your best and I'll always be proud of you for doing that!"
Hope blushed almost immediately at the hug, however, this was just the motivation she needed to stand up and walk toward the stage. "Let's, uh, r-rock!"
"Woah woah woah, Laurie is going up next!" Kylie threatened as she stepped in front of her "No way am I going to get eliminated over two girls who look like they could be lifted with one arm each!"
"B-but it's our turn" Hope murmured nervously, only for Kylie to glare at her more threateningly.
"Hey, don't bully people just because they're smaller than you" Anne stepped in front of Hope while glaring back at the muscular girl.
"I'm not bullying anyone. I'm just keeping my team in the game. So step off!"
Anne just continued to glare back challengingly. Hope quietly stared at the scene, having never seen Anne get as upset as she was right now.
"Listen string bean, I'd be more than fine to show you why you should just let Laurie go ahead if you want" Kylie cracked her knuckles.
Anne simply looked annoyed at her, not responding in any meaningful way. Kylie glared even further as she clutched Anne by her collar.
Anne and Kylie angrily locked eyes before a sudden alarm went off "the Polar Opposites are our last team to make it, being 12th place!" Richard announced elsewhere.
"Wha-" Kylie turned around to see Hope standing on stage and giving a small embarrassed bow. "How did she get past!?" She turned to Laurie "Why didn't you stop her?"
Laurie quietly frowned at her partner as she let Anne go and run towards her partner "C-Come on Kylie… this competition hasn't really been all that fun… and they obviously needed to stay a bit longer" she gestured to Anne picking up Hope in a hug, who immediately blushed.
"I-I feel like I grew in this competition" she smiled softly at Kylie "And I also didn't want you to beat up that comedian girl" Laurie joked with a small giggle.
Kylie smiled softly as she shrugged her shoulders "I hate losing but I guess since you knocked some dude out I can take a loss near the halfway point"
Laurie sighed in relief "Oh good, I didn't think I was going to convince you at all"
"Oh trust me" the hardass smirked "When we get eliminated I'm dragging you to a track to get you workin!"
Before Laurie could respond Richard walked towards them "Yea, yea. You're both out so get this moving along please"
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood" Kylie threatened quietly, just getting a small shrug from the host as he walked away.
"Well, I had fun" Laurie spoke first as their competition played over their adventures in the competition.
"It was whatever" Kylie spoke like she was pretty uninterested "I'm honestly happier to just be getting back to Angelina"
"Really know how to make me feel wanted don't you?" Laurie murmured softly.
"Hey, not your fault it's hard to compare with Angelina." Kylie taunted as they appeared sitting together in a normal sauna.
"You can spend all the time you want with her" Laurie smiled back in a teasing way "Means we're not together as much"
"Touche" Kylie smirked "Touche".
AN: I don't have much to say, honestly I've had trouble writing this chapter and what was gonna be the China one. I planned for the non-elimination in CHina but after getting ways in I just couldn't get much out of it. And honestly, I feel like this one likely dragged a bit in the last challenge. Just a bit of a hard time turning it into writing I guess. But anyhow, the Unbalanced Friendship is out, honestly, I feel like I really had to eliminate them at this point. In a different story, I likely could've had Laurie's development last longer but with us getting close to the halfway point and me having 3 of my teams still in, I had to eliminate one of them. And these two just had the least going on I'd say. But, ignoring what I feel about the challenges I hope people enjoyed this one as we really get into the thick of things.